Zipp News

OPQS Super again on Super-9 / 808 Firecrest

A determined final lung-searing sprint gave the Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team a thrilling victory in the 57.2 km UCI World Team Time Trial Championship on Sunday in Italy. The TTT squad – comprised of Peter Velits, Michal Kwiatkowski, Niki Terpstra, Sylvain Chavanel, Tony Martin, and Kristof Vandewalle – beat the time of second place GreenEdge by a mere .81 seconds to defend OPQS’s world title from a year ago.

The team had studied the final technical seconds of the course through the city of Firenze to push their speed and limits. OPQS, as they have throughout the season, relied on the proven time-trialing combo of an 808 Firecrest front wheel and Super-9 Disc in the rear. OPQS’s time of 1:04:16.81 represented an average speed of 53.402 kilometers per hour (33.18 mph).

“I think we won it with the big morale in the final,” said Martin, according to a team release. “I think it is the same for the other riders on the team. In the last few hundred meters (OPQS director) Tom Steels said, 'Go go go, take everything, you can be world champion' and I think that gave us the last percentage of motivation to put all our power into the pedals. Sometimes one sentence can make the difference."